Morning journal and courier., 1887-09-23
LINCoLN's GETTYSBURG GRAFTON

It Fell Flat at the Time, Although Afterwards Recognized Master. piece.
 Ward Lamon in the Indianapolis News.l day or two before the dedication of the
 National cemetery at Gettysburg MT. Lin coin told me that he would be expected to make speech on the occasion; that he was extremely busy, with no time for prepara- tion, and that he greatly feared he would
 not be able to acquit himself with credit,
 much less to fill the measure of public ex-
 pectation. From his hat (the usual recepta-
 cle of his private notes and memoranda he
 drew page of foolscap, closely written,
 which he read to me, first remarking that it was a memorandum of what he intended to say. It proved to be in substance, and I think in hoec verba, what was printed as his
 Gettysburg speech.
 After it's delivery he expressed deep regret that he had not prepared it with greater care. He said to me on the stand immediately af- ter concluding the speech: 'Lamon, that speech won't soarl It is flat failure and the people disappointed" He seemed more than ordinarily concerned sbout what the people would think of it. I was deeply impressed by his frank and regretful con demnation of the effort, and especially by his manner of expressing that regret, and my own impression was deepened by the fact 1 that the orator of the day, Mr. Everett, and MT. Seward both coincided with MT. Lincoln l in his unfavorable view of it's merits. 1 The occasion was solemn, impressive and grandly historic. The people stood spell bound it is true. The vast throng was ! hushed and awed into profound silence while MT Lincoln read his brief address; but it seemed that this silence and attention to his words arose more from the solemnity of the ceremonies and the awful scenes which l gave occasion to them than from anything the President said.
 On the platform from which Mr. Lincoln ! made his address, and only a moment after l it's conclusion, MT. Seward turned to MT. Everett and asked him what he thought of the Presidents speech. Mir. Everett replied: ''It was not what I expected from him; am disappointed"
 In his turn Mr. Everett asked: "What do you think of it, MT Seward?'' The response was: ''He has made a failure and am sor- " for it; his speech is not equal to him." Mr. Seward then turned to me and asked, "Mr. Marshal, what do you think of it?'' 1T am sorry to say it does not impress me as one of his great speeches"
 In the face of these facts it has been re- peatedly published that this speech was re- ceived with great eclat by the audience; that amid the tears, sobs and cheers it produced in the excited throng, the orator of the day, MT. Everett, turned impulsively to MT. Lin coin, grasped his hand and exclaimed, q congratulate you on your success!" adding in transport of enthusiasm, "Ahl MT. Presi- dent, how gladly would give all my hun dred pages to be the author of your twenty lines!"
 All this unworthy gush, it is needless to say, is purely apocryphal. Nothing of the
 kind occurred. It is an afterthought-mere rhetorical bombast, gotten up to serve the purpose of baseless adulation. It is slan- der on MT. Everett, an injustice to MT. Lin- coin and Justification of history. Mir. Eve rett could not have used the words attributed to him, in the face of his openly expressed condemnation of Mir. Lineolnas- speech, with ! out subjecting himself to the just charge of ! being toady and hypocrite, and he was neither the one nor the other.
 As matter of fact MT. Lincoln's great Gettysburg speech fell on the vast audience like wet blanket At that time his reputa- tion was confessedly on the wane. The poli- ticians of the country-those of his own party, together with large part of the press were casting about for available candi- date to be his successor, while a great major ity of the people were for him.
 1 state it as fact and without fear of con- tradiction that this famous Gettysburg speech was not received or commented upon with anything like hearty favor by the peo- pie, the politicians or the press of the Uni ted States until after the death of it's author. Its marvellous perfection and it's intrinsic ex cellence as masterpiece of English compo- sition seem to have escaped the scrutiny of the most scholarly critics and the wisest heads of that day on this side of the Atlan- tic That discovery was made, we must re- gretfully see, by distinguished writers on the other side. The London Spectator, the Sat- urday Review, the Edinburgh Review and other English journals were the first to dis
 cover, or at least to proclaim, the classical
 merits of the Gettysburg speech. It was then that we began to realize that it
 was indeed masterpiece, and it then dswned upon many minds that we had entertained an angel unawares, who had left us unappre ciated.